Alhambras of identity: memoirs of Spain in the Puerto Rico architecture in the 20 century

Abstract

The essay examines the popularity enjoyed during the 1920’s and 1930’s by architectural styles reminiscent of Spain in Puerto Rico, the last colony of the Spanish empire in the New World. Notwithstanding the cultural transformations withstood by the island due to the American occupation that began in 1898, the symbolic linkages with Spain gain in relevance through two mechanisms: fashion and the quest of national identity by the Puerto Ricans. «Spanish» revival styles in architecture, literature, films originate mainly in Florida and California but become a worldwide phenomenon. On the other hand, American occupation of Puerto Rico puts the identity theme in the forefront of public debate in a country with a strong Hispanic background. Architecture becomes a privileged site to examine signifying practices in which modernity and tradition expose their respective strengths. Public buildings and private residences were built during this period in Moorish or Spanish Renaissance styles. Fashion or identity proposal or a negotiated cohabitation between two powerful cultural engines?